A NATION CHALLENGED: THE PILOTS

A NATION CHALLENGED: THE PILOTS; Airline Pilots Adopt Their Own Security Measures

By JODI WILGOREN and LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN

Published: September 26, 2001

David Butterfield, a US Airways pilot for 23 years, does not want a gun.

He is confident about the defensive arsenal already at his disposal: Depressurizing the aircraft, so everyone on board passes out. Brandishing the ax normally reserved to clear debris in case of a crash against an attacker. Or just manipulating the controls.

''If I have an armed hijacker on board, whether he has a gun or a knife or he threatens he has a bomb, I'm going to maneuver the airplane to keep him or her or them off balance,'' said Captain Butterfield, a Navy veteran who flies A-320 Airbuses out of Charlotte, N.C. ''I was a fighter pilot for 16 years. I can bounce them off the ceiling like a yo-yo.''

In the two weeks since the four hijackings that became the world's worst terrorist attack, commercial airline pilots have begun to plot new strategies for fighting back. After decades of training to respond passively to hijackers' demands, pilots and their employers are now adopting a more aggressive stance as potential soldiers in the United States' new war.

As federal lawmakers consider a proposal by the largest pilots' union to allow pilots to carry guns, along with ways to screen airport workers more carefully and make cockpit doors impenetrable, individual pilots have already adopted their own security measures. They are standing at the door eyeballing passengers personally, creating new code words to communicate with crews in emergencies, blocking entry to the cockpit with jump seats or snack carts, and telling passengers how they might protect themselves or disarm the enemy if the once-inconceivable were to happen again.

Many pilots have ousted suspicious passengers, refused to fly out of concern for who or what is on board, or diverted for emergency landings.

Since the attacks, pilots say they have seen a renewed confirmation of their ultimate responsibility for the aircraft, an authority that many felt had been eroded in recent years by the commercial interests of their employers. Federal regulations explicitly state that an airline captain has control of craft and crew ''without limitation,'' but some airlines, seeking to improve on-time performance, have tried to keep airport gate agents in charge until a plane leaves the terminal.

''The pilot has absolute total command of that airplane just like any captain has command of a ship,'' said Frederick Dubinsky, the head of the pilots' union, the Air Line Pilots Association, at United. ''He is in command, period. If a passenger doesn't listen, he will go to jail. We will not tolerate the loose behavior of the past.''

Union officials said American and United, the country's two largest carriers, had recently tried to roll back the captain's authority to the time he releases the brakes, rather than when he signs in for duty.

FedEx pilots recently succeeded in getting the Federal Aviation Administration to overturn a company policy that made them subject to discipline for exercising their right to bar certain employees from riding in the cockpit jump seat. But Norman A. Patterson, a Miami pilot who is chairman of the Pilot Authority Committee of the pilots' union at American Airlines, said that ''since Sept. 11, there seems to be a resurgence on the part of the company to lean on the captain's authority.''

In interviews around the country yesterday, many pilots echoed Captain Butterfield's hesitation about carrying weapons on board. They worried that many pilots lacked firearms training, that firing a gun at 35,000 feet could damage equipment and be disastrous and that potential hijackers could grab the guns either in the cockpit or in airport terminals, past the security checkpoints.

Many pilots say they are also uncomfortable with the idea of armed off-duty pilots on their airplanes.

''The danger from the gun would be greater than the safety,'' said one Lufthansa pilot as he arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston from Germany.

A pilot based at La Guardia Airport, who spoke on the condition that he not be named, agreed that it would be more effective to hire armed, plainclothes air marshals than to give pilots guns.

''You have to be careful of unintended consequences,'' the pilot said, imagining being mugged for a pistol in an airport restroom. ''If all of a sudden anybody who's wearing a pilot's uniform might potentially be carrying a weapon, I just think it's too easy for anybody who's trained as a terrorist to relieve them of it.''

Rather than wait for the airlines and the government to change their policies, many pilots immediately changed their behavior after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Some asked passengers to keep clear of the aisles, even requiring a flight attendant to escort them to lavatories, while others altered welcome-aboard messages. A pilot on a United flight urged passengers to throw things at a potential hijacker and wrestle him to the floor with a blanket. On an American flight last weekend, the pilot told passengers the seat cushion could be used as a shield.

''He announced that if there were anyone who was interested in taking over the flight that of course there were more of us than there were of them so that wouldn't be a good idea,'' said Kay Fitch of San Antonio, a passenger. ''It was a good way to give us an opportunity to think about some options that we might want to take.''

After the attacks, United altered its script to acknowledge the tragedy and remind passengers that ''our focus is your safety; it remains our No. 1 priority.'' The rest is ad-libbed.

''Pilots have taken their own initiative on this,'' said Captain Dubinsky, the union leader. ''They are doing what they need to do to protect themselves and their passengers.''

The new announcements reflect an about-face in cockpit attitudes as pilots contemplate a new kind of hijacker who wants to turn an airplane into a missile rather than just hitch a ride. A pilot in Phoenix who practices martial arts said he had been going ''over in my head what I would do if someone came in the cockpit.'' Other pilots are keeping the crash ax next to them on the floor.

''We're at a point where any hijacker has to be taken out by the crew or passengers, period,'' said an American Trans Air pilot at Midway Airport in Chicago. ''I've started thinking to myself, how good am I at hand-to-hand combat?''

Like many other pilots, Robert Payne who lives near Seattle and flies MD-80's for Alaska Airlines, has moved the jump seat between his chair and the cockpit door.

''Even if you get through the door, it's another barrier you have to overcome,'' he explained. ''It gives me enough time to break free. And that's enough time for me to disconnect the autopilot, and if you're not strapped down, you're going for a ride.''

Captain Payne said, ''the pilots have a different mind-set now.'' He added, ''You come through the cockpit, you're fair game.''

Photo: Airline pilots say they have begun thinking of ways to foil hijackings without resorting to guns. A United pilot headed toward a flight yesterday at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. (Scott Olson for The New York Times)